Scoping NESLi2 post-cancellation

The concern libraries have about affording subscriptions for online access to e-journal content is confounded by worry about access to back copies should they be forced to cancel. Clause 8.5 of the NESLi2 licensing provides the contractual basis for continued access, but this is new and unproven ground.

JISC Collections, EDINA and Content Complete Ltd have combined to scope the problem in a JISC-funded project called PECAN (Pilot for Ensuring Continuity of Access via NESLi2). One element of the study has been to survey a sample of NESLi2 librarians and publishers to cross-check understanding about which journals would be covered within the NESLi2 deals, and to gauge reaction to an outline information architecture.

A consultation event was held at the JISC offices in London in early October to review the summaries being reported. There was support for an entitlement registry - a subscriptions database with history - to assist libraries. The idea of a central archiving facility was also discussed. There was shared priority across the publishers and librarians present that researchers and students should have as much ease of access to back copy post-cancellation as to currently subscribed content. The challenge was to devise and provide a location facility that would resolve access to the appropriate, and assured, source of supply.

The PECAN project team is currently preparing a final report for distribution by the end of 2009, on both the outcomes of this workshop and the project activity more generally. A follow-on project to build and pilot an enabling system seems likely in order to assist decision-making during 2010.

PECAN project